Calendar for December 7th, 2013

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

At dawn on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in an attempt to cripple the fleet and hinder U.S. intervention in other Japanese targets in the South Pacific. The Japanese military expected that Germany would defeat Great Britain and the Soviet Union and that Japan would control the Pacific. The attack was opposed by Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who cautioned against a war with the United States, but he was overruled. After the attack, he said, "We have awakened a sleeping giant and have instilled in him a terrible resolve." He was right. Although airfields, port facilities, and warships were severely damaged and two battleships, the Utah and the Arizona, were destroyed, the attack mobilized the United States and signaled its entry into World War II. Today the Arizona is a memorial and a national park.

Every Year

International Civil Aviation Day

1830s

1835: The steam locomotive was used for the first time in Germany when a railroad opened from Nuremberg to Furth

1870s

Born 1873: Willa Cather (author)

1890s

1898: The first Christmas postage stamp was released in Canada

1900s

1907: Christmas seals sold for the first time

1940s

Born 1942: Harry Chapin (musician)

Born 1947: Johnny Bench (baseball player)

1950s

Born 1956: Larry Bird (basketball player)

1970s

Died 1970: Rube Goldberg (cartoonist)

1972: The crew of Apollo 17, while on their way to the Moon, took a photo of Earth from about 28,000 miles away

Born 1973: Terrell Owens (football player)

Died 1975: Thornton Wilder (playwright)

1977: Gordie Howe became the first professional hockey player to score 1000 goals

1980s

Born 1987: Aaron Carter (singer)

Born 1988: Emily Browning (actress)

2000s

Died 2004: Jerry Scoggins (sang "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" that introduced the Clampett clan on The Beverly Hillbillies)